The Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, said yesterday that hisparty would lead thousands of people in
protest against President RobertMugabe's government within weeks, following
the collapse of its talks withthe governing party, Zanu-PF."Mass action
is inevitable and unavoidable," he told the Guardian. "We havecome to a
stage where non-violent action has to be taken. The assessment wehave from
consulting with the people is that they are prepared to protestagainst this
illegitimate government."

The call to the streets is a new step for Mr
Tsvangirai, and is expected toincrease the tension in Zimbabwe. He said the
protests would take place"soon".

"Even three weeks or a month is too
long."

In recent weeks Mr Tsvangirai has addressed several rallies. "I
have beengoing around the country and I tell you the mood is combative and
defiant,"he said.

"I am glad there is consensus between the rural and
urban divide about theillegitimacy of the government.

"As a
responsible leadership we are going to channel their emotions in apositive
way that will resolve the crisis this country is in."

Mr Tsvangirai and
his Movement for Democratic Change have refused to acceptMr Mugabe's victory
in the March presidential election.

Mr Mugabe said in the
state-controlled Sunday Mail yesterday that hisgovernment was prepared "to
talk peace if the MDC wants to talk peace, butif they choose violence, then
we will deal with them effectively".

WILDLIFE experts believe that up to 600,000 animals have been poachedin
Zimbabwe since the launch of President Robert Mugabe's land
invasionprogramme two years ago.

The ongoing slaughter, which
includes supposedly protected speciessuch as black rhinoceros, has wiped out
an estimated 60 per cent of wildlifeon privately owned game ranches and
conservancies.

Such areas have been overrun by thousands of
settlers, who havestripped away game fences and used the wire to make
snares, using the meateither for subsistence amid increasing hunger caused
by food shortages, orfor commercial sale.

"This country's
natural heritage is being decimated," said JohnnyRodriguez, of the Zimbabwe
Conservation Task Force. "Unless the governmentrestores law and order, we
can ultimately kiss Zimbabwe's wildlife goodbye."

There is also
evidence that rural authorities in some areas havesanctioned the shooting of
game in order to feed the youth militia set up toterrorise political
opponents by Mr Mugabe's ZANU-PF party during hiscampaign for
re-election.

There are two main habitats for wildlife in Zimbabwe,
commercial gameranches, which earn their income from tourism and controlled
hunting, andwhich in some cases have joined together to form larger
conservancies, andNational Parks.

Gerry Whitehead owns a game
ranch in the Mateke hills of south-eastZimbabwe, which he bought in 1989 and
stocked with more than 1,000 animals."There was no wildlife, very little
grass and no surface water. It was likea desert," he said. "I built dams,
bought in game, enticed wildlife into thearea. It was beautiful. You could
see herds of zebra, wildebeest, impala.Now we are heading towards having no
wildlife left. Even with eight gamescouts, we are losing animals every day
to poachers." Of the 200 eland heonce had, just 25 remain; of 60 sable,
there are now nine. The giraffe, whoused to number 50, are down to around
ten.

Wally Herbst, chairman of the Wildlife Producers' Association,
said:"Almost two-thirds of the wildlife on commercial farms has been
eliminated.If the authorities don't start running in the poachers now,
within four tofive months the damage will be irreparable."

On
Chiredzi Conservancy, the 16 owners are struggling to get a grip onthe
crisis. "We have lost thousands of animals," said Digby Nesbitt,
thechairman, whose Dawlish Ranch is now peppered with 200-300 settlers'
huts."They are chopping down mopane trees, killing the game, setting snares
andthreatening to kill game scouts."

Clem Coetsee also owns
land on the conservancy. One of the mostrespected faces on southern Africa's
wildlife scene, he won plaudits for hisrescue of more than 500 elephants
from the Gonarezhou National Park duringthe drought of 1992-93 and for the
movement of Zimbabwe's black rhinopopulation into protected areas during the
1980s, when an upsurge inpoaching in the Zambezi Valley threatened their
survival.

His 9,000-acre property, that he had lovingly stocked
with animalsincluding eland, duiker, reedbuck, bushbuck and wildebeest, is
now occupiedby "war veterans" and settlers. They have stolen more than ten
miles of gamefence and used it to snare wildlife, and destroyed
two-and-a-half miles ofpipes that he had laid to provide water for
buffalo.

Having done so much for the country's fauna, the
63-year-old feelsbitter. "I barely see any animals on my place now," he
said. "The presidenthimself said the conservancies would not be taken for
resettlement, but wehave seen otherwise. Responsibility for this lies with
him."

The poaching situation in the national parks is unclear, but
MrCoetsee believes that possibly hundreds of thousands of animals have
beenillegally killed there. He is especially worried about the fate of
therhino. On the Chiredzi Conservancy, anti-poaching patrols are doing
theirbest to monitor the 21 resident black rhino, but on other
conservancies, warveterans have created "no-go" zones, meaning nobody can
assess the rhinos'welfare.

"If the land question is not
resolved soon, the future for the rhinois grave," Mr Coetsee warned. Since
the land invasions began in 2000, therehave been ten confirmed rhino deaths
in Zimbabwe and 13 more animals haverequired veterinary treatment after
being caught in snares.

It is feared by some land managers that
around 30 more rhinos may havebeen killed in areas that can no longer be
monitored. There are around 400black rhino in Zimbabwe, of a total of around
2,500 in Africa as a whole."We could go from 400-odd to nothing in a year if
they really put theirminds to it," warned Norman Crooks, a rhino
specialist.

The Bubiana Conservancy at West Nicholson is one of the
worst affectedareas. Formed in 1991 by seven commercial farmers who joined
their land toform a 350,000 acre protected zone, it is now under partial
occupation bywar veterans and settlers. Three of the seven landowners have
been forced toflee and the 50 game scouts who used to patrol that part of
the conservancyhave been reduced to 30 due to the threats and
intimidation.

A total area of 170,000 acres is now unpatrolled on
Bubiana. The fateof the estimated 40 black rhino who lived within that area,
out of a totalof 104 animals on the conservancy as a whole, is unknown.
"Personally, Ifear that up to 20 of those 40 may be gone," said Mr
Crooks.

Of the four confirmed rhino deaths on Bubiana over the past
18 months,one was a calf under two weeks old that was burned to death when
squattersset the conservancy alight. Another was caught in a snare then
stabbed todeath.

A black rhino rehabilitation programme at
Tashinga in the MatusadonaNational Park has also suffered casualties. Last
month, two semi-tame rhinoswere poisoned by poachers using agricultural
pesticide. One survived butChibage, aged 30 months, was killed and its horn
hacked off.

At the 50,000-acre Gourlays Ranch at Turk Mine, Richard
Pascall, thelandowner, lost an adult male called Squeeze, that was killed in
a fightwith another rhino after settlers moved on to the land, apparently
causingSqueeze to flee into a rival's territory. Mr Pascall was forced off
hisproperty by armed war veterans who attacked him.

Raoul du
Toit, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature's rhino projectsin Zimbabwe,
believes there is hope if the government can be persuaded tointervene. In
recent days, there have been moves by the police and army toconduct sweeps
in some areas, such as the Save and Chiredzi conservancies,although there is
concern over the long-term picture.

"It's a case of how far the
government wants to let it go," said Mr duToit. "The whole world knows how
black rhino were being driven to the pointof extinction and another major
setback appears to be on the cards hereunless we act fast."

Three visits to different offices,
an 8-hour queue, applicants beaten with sjamboks: journalist Michael Hartnack
describes the quest to renew his Zimbabwe passport.

My passport expires in September. Warned by
a colleague that his took four months to renew, I went in April to Home Affairs
in Harare Street/Herbert Chitepo Avenue to begin the process. It is so dreaded
that many whites have opted to forfeit their citizenship and their vote by
seeking the passports of foreign countries.

Step One, to get the necessary application
form, took me over an hour in an unruly scrum. I had to produce my birth
certificate, my metal national identity disk and two photographs. The form was
thrust at me with a curt order: "Go to 'Citizenship'." For Step Two I returned
another day to queue at the Citizenship Office with every conceivable document
proving it is impossible for me to claim the nationality of any other country.
My friend Judy Todd has just won a constitutional test case that she is entitled
to retain her Zimbabwe citizenship although she took no steps to renounce a
possible right to a passport from New Zealand, birthplace of her father, former
Prime Minister Sir Garfield Todd. The judge ruled she was not obliged to
renounce a supposed right she had never tried to claim. However, I mustered
every shred of evidence that I have no rights to any foreign citizenship and
before the January 6 deadline sent copies by registered post, twice, to our
controversial Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede. Robert Mugabe’s Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, in its original draft, banned any
journalist not a Zimbabwean citizen from working here. I was taking no
chances.

After a 90-minute wait in a squalid
corridor outside the Citizenship Office, I presented attested copies of all the
evidence I sent in January. An official examined this and questioned me about my
and my parents' birthplaces. He then disappeared into a back office, evidently
to check my file. When he returned he stamped my passport application form with
the words "Subject has renounced his foreign citizenship in terms of the new
law" and wrote a reference number. The third fence is this Grand Nationality
Steeplechase was by far the worst - formally submitting the application.
Exhaustive enquiries revealed it was impossible to do this without hiring
specialist help from some of the four million unemployed. Security guards at
Home Affairs do not allow people to queue outside all night, so passport seekers
have to hide themselves some streets away, then converge on the gates towards
dawn.

When I arrived at dawn on May 13 there were
three rival, disorderly queues, each about five abreast and 400 metres long, all
people hoping to lodge passport applications – mostly so they can escape to
South Africa. There were, I estimate, between 4 000 and 7 000 people there by
7:30 a.m. For his Zimbabwe $700 fee, my specialist had stationed proxies in all
three queues. I took the place of one, but his queue swiftly broke down in
pandemonium as paramilitary police with AK47s and men in plain clothes with
sjamboks and two-metre canes emerged and began whipping those at the head. I was
told, but cannot confirm, these were members of the Central Intelligence
Organisation. As terrified women fled screaming, a burly Mike Tyson lookalike
was among many knocked off his feet, his application form, precious personal
documents and passport photos trampled in the dirt. Eventually a single queue was formed, the men with whips striding
up and down swishing the air menacingly. A man who remonstrated received two
lashes. (This queue eventually extended two kilometres.) My specialist pointed
out a young man in a yellow jerkin who was our "place saver" in the surviving
queue. When things calmed down around 8:00 a.m. I asked a baton-wielding
policeman if I might substitute myself. In view of my advanced years I was
allowed to step out of the gutter and take over. The policeman then gratuitously
assaulted the man in the yellow jerkin for being on the pavement.

From the chaos down the street came what
sounded like a shot from an AK47. "Ah! Wellsi-Fargo!" quipped a humourist and we
all laughed. The amazing good nature of the people is this country's greatest
asset. More plain clothes officials made their way down the line checking
papers. A date and number - 184 of May 13 - was written on my application form.
The officials allocated only 300 people to a day. We were shepherded onto the
verandahs outside the passport office and lined up in our numbered order. As one
of only two pale faces in the queue I became a sort of landmark during my
eight-hour wait. Those going off to buy food or use the frightful toilets told
neighbours to remember they were X places ahead of or behind me. Just as I finally reached the front at 3 p.m., the doors were
closed and numbers 201-300 were told to come back next day. One official checked
in my form, another took my Zimbabwe $300 fee, a third told me to return in
November. Footnote: Mugabe's Zanu PF cronies get preferential treatment, many
being issued "diplomatic passports" although they have no link to the foreign
service.

May is normally a month of plenty in Zimbabwe, as farmers
harvest their crops ahead of the austral winter. But this year, rural granaries
are as empty as the dusty urban store shelves, and the government has declared a
state of disaster because of the desperate shortage of food in most of the
southern African country. Nowhere is the crisis as severe as the already dry
provinces of southern Zimbabwe. "We didn't really get anything -- only a few
melons," said grey-haired Francis Sibanda. "The rain was not fair, so we
couldn't harvest anything. Now we go for sometimes a week without food," he
said. His wife spends the days scavenging for berries and wild fruit in the
nearby mountains. He sometimes sells a chicken alongside the highway that passes
100 meters outside his village, but that money only buys enough maize meal to
last a few days, and he is running out of chickens. "If we can find (maize
meal), we don't make the thick sadza, we just make a thin porridge so the mealie
meal can last another day," one neighbour said.

Most people in the villages in Lukosi district, about 130
kilometres east of Victoria Falls, said they were relying on relatives, friends
and neighbours to survive – hoping that some distant cousin working in a city or
overseas will send home money or food to share with the village. "Now we are
waiting for the neighbours, to see if they find some food. We are living
communally, to make sure no one is dying," said Ruth Ndlovu, who was using her
cooking pots for stools as she had nothing to put in them. Even in these rural
areas, people have heard of government plans to import maize. But everyone in
this cluster of villages thinks they know why no food is coming to them -
politics. "Those areas where the imported maize is going, is where the people
voted for the government. That is why we are not getting food," Ndlovu said.
"Last time when the maize was brought, it was said it was only for the ruling
party supporters – the war vets, the army. Sometimes if shops manage to get
mealie meal, it's only 10 bags. When the maize is disbursed, they say it is only
for Zanu PF, not for MDC supporters, and they make sure it does not come."

Voters in southern Zimbabwe turned out strongly in favour of
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the March presidential
election and the 2000 parliamentary elections. Most of the people in these
provinces are from the Ndebele minority, and none of them have forgotten the
ruling Zanu PF's bloody 1980s campaign to wipe out "dissidents," which left
thousands dead or missing. During that campaign, church groups accused the
government of using the army to block food deliveries and to destroy food
supplies during the 1984 drought. The memories have left a suspicion of
President Robert Mugabe that's hard to erase in this region, especially after
the violence-wracked presidential campaign that saw thousands of people - mainly
opposition supporters - beaten, abducted or otherwise intimidated, according to
rights groups. At least 55 people have died so far this year in political
violence, rights groups say.

Aid agencies, however, are trying to respond to the crisis
without getting entangled in the political drama. The UN's World Food Program
(WFP) suspended its emergency food deliveries for the two weeks around the March
9-11 election. But the political crisis and international dissatisfaction with
Mugabe's government have overshadowed the growing humanitarian problems. UN
officials here fear the famine will act as a catalyst for other health problems,
not the least of which is HIV, the deadly virus that has infected one in four
Zimbabwean adults. Other diseases like malaria and cholera can also take hold as
malnutrition spreads. If international assistance does not come, villagers in
Lukosi have resigned themselves to scavenging and hoping they survive to see
better rains next year. "We are just waiting to see if next year there is some
rain. In the meantime, we just eat wild fruits, berries, some baobab fruit. And
we rush to the highway to see if someone is getting down with some maize,"
Ndlovu said.

SABC featured news yesterday showing the Zimbabwe Police instructing "war
vets" to remove themselves from certain properties that have not been officially
designated by the Government...laughable isn't it. Mugabe, is NOW about to
display to the rest of the world that he is actually HUMANE and considerate and
that he has restored " law and order" but only after he has achieved all his
objectives by removing 95% of the white farmers off the land, torturing, raping
and beating up literally thousands of innocent people and successfully getting
away with rigging the last election. Its amazing how the SABC are now able to
feature Mugabe's Police moving squatters off the land, whereas in the past they
(plus the international media) have failed so miserably to portray some of the
actual realities of the situation such as the brutal violence or some of the
very inhumane acts committed against the people and animals.....not only have
they kept it all at a low key but there are reports that they actually
suppressed most such news. We suspect that it will be convenient for the
International media follow suit and do likewise. It seems that its a win, win
situation all round ....except for a few white farmers and millions of poor
black Zimbabweans. Chirac of France and Mbeki of South Africa will be happy
because they will have saved their staunch ally, the Frontline states will be
happy for a similar reason, Britain will be happy (because it will save spending
millions of Dollars on compensation for land) and the European Community will be
happy because it will have prevented them from having to challenge the OAU
(Organisation of African "so called" Unity)....and nobody in the outside world
will be any the wiser about what really happened! Its so very difficult trying
to come to terms with this awful, despicab injustice.G. Ncube.

*2*

Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 9:00 AM

Dear Readers,

If convenient please read an "opinion" submitted to me by a friend...it
would appear that South Africa, Nigeria and the western world are attempting to
conveniently sweep the "whole Zimbabwe issue" right under the carpet, pretending
that all is now well and that law and order and democracy have been restored in
Zimbabwe. And they are doing so principally because everybody wants this NEPAD
(New Partnership for African Development)financial aid package to go ahead.
It is for this reason that there has been this extensive news blackout on
Zimbabwe..... it has allowed President Mugabe the necessary time to quickly
remove all the white farmers and pulverise his people into total submission so
that everything now appears sweet and so refreshingly clean. Nothing,
absolutely nothing, could be further from the truth...believe me. I often feel
that watching events unfold in Zimbabwe and witnessing some of the key players
performing (African and Western) is like watching a "thriller/horror" movie,
only problem is that this is for real and it doesn't seem to ever end or get any
better. G. Ncube.

*3*

Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 9:05 PM

Dear John -

Very interesting note... This seems to concur with other stories I'm
reading in ZWNews or elsewhere, which suggest the world is busy trying to push
Zimbabwe under the carpet so that everybody is happy. That clearly is the
interest of South Africa: The more the world forgets about what happens to Zim
or believes it's no longer an issue, the higher its chances of getting funding
through Nepad, and the lower the risks of capital deserting SA...Mbeki can
score a personal victory by showing how well his pet project Nepad has been
received by the West, without having to really get tough to Mugabe and risking
(who knows) to upset some of his grassroot ANC support!Already the rand is
firming - coinciding with Zimbabwe fading from the news - and that probably is
luring the SA officials into believing that what they've done is enough! As for
the western leaders, well they probably feel that by giving money to Nepad and
praising it as an African success, they will score big with their own voters by
appearing like nice people who've done their bit for the third world.

So it seems that rather than trying to solve the Zim problem, the world
powers are trying to put a positive spin on it and pretend that either there is
no problem, or that it is being resolved. Great work! I'm sure Tony Blair and
Peter Mandelson, the great masters of spin, will appreciate. Once again, our
global politicians are dealing with the problem the way they're so used to: If
people don't like the policy, do not change it, but rather hire a PR consultant
in order to explain it better. In the case of Zimbabwe, of course, it is not
too difficult, as their constituents probably have little sympathy for the
victims of Mugabe. Right-wingers tend to consider all African countries as
basket-cases anyway, and many left-wingers probably still have some sympathy for
"socialist" ZANU and regard MDC as a stooge of foreign capitalists. Some people
in Britain feel sorry for the plight of the white farmers, but that feeling does
not extend to sparing two hours of their life to go and demonstrate in support
of Mugabe's victims. The last demonstration I went to - opposite Zim House in
London, organised by MDC and the Freedom of Zim campaign - we were about 35...
About the same as when some concerned South Africans tried to have a
demonstration in front of SA House to protest against the farm murders and
violence in SA in general.And yet God knows that London is full of white
South Africans lamenting the falling apart of their country!

As for the loss of wildlife in Zimbabwe, we're facing an even greater
problem: Even those people far-sighted enough to feel about what is happening to
Zimbabwe people do not necessarily see beyond simplistic solutions. Some
(white) people who are active in the MDC in London have told me that the
priority is to concentrate on the people of Zim rather than the elephants...
That reminded me of the good souls who were shocked at the Nigerian patrols
shooting at Somali poachers back in the early 1990s to protect some rhino.
Obviously too many people, and educated people, still cannot see the importance
of an asset like wildlife for the future and the people of Africa, or do not
want to see it because of their own ideological bias. Some people have
highlighted the plight of Zim wildlife (there have been, for instance, several
articles in the SA magazine Africa Geographic and also warnings by the
Endangered Wildlife Trust) but I must admit that by and large, the outcry from
the environmental NGOs has been muted. As for Greenpeace, it seems more
interested into smashing the French boat for the America's Cup - on grounds
they're sponsored by a nuclear power agency - than in protecting
wildlife...

With reference
to an article carried in The Herald on 20 May 2002, we wishto give facts
omitted from your report. We require a front-page rebuttal intomorrows
Herald. The title was 'Farmer poisons tonnes of Maize'.

In consultation
with farm owner, Basil Hulloville Brent, we submit aresponse and request
that equal coverage be given. Both Brent and JenniWilliams (CFU
spokesperson) were not contacted for comment by The Heraldleading to this
biased report, which has besmirched the good repute of Brentand that of his
son Gary who is a member of the national cricket team.

Firstly the Norton
farm, Riverside E, is 126 hectares in extent and is theonly farm owned by
Brent and his son Gary. It remained unlisted foracquisition until a
preliminary notice in The Herald of Friday, 17 May. Thefarm has employed 100
workers in the past but 55 are currently on the books.There are also 69 head
of cattle on the property.

Brent also has 17 ha of Tobacco, and 45 000 kgs is stored in his
shedsawaiting grading. He also grows 8 ha of maize for consumption as
greenmaize. This maize for consumption is what was photographed by The
Herald andis clearly stored indoors as it was harvested last month and is
yet to beshelled. This is the maize that farm workers can purchase at very
subsidizedrates.

There is a heap of approx 10 tonnes seed maize lying
outdoors, which isclearly visible. This seed maize was reaped last year and
has been lyingoutdoors since then. It is unfit for livestock consumption as
it wasinfected with Diplodia, it is therefore the poisoned maize in
question. BothJohn Mukrayi and Mrs Nyandoro were informed of the reason this
maize waslying out in the open. It was not photographed by your
cameraman.

For background information, there were no occupiers on the
farm until afterthe September 6 Abuja Accord signed on 6th September 2001.
The firstoccupier was an ex army captain by the name of John Mukrayi, a
weekendfarmer who insisted Brent plant a bean crop for him. He recently
harvestedand sold this crop having contributed nothing to its planting or
tendering.

On the 25th April 2002, someone whom I know as Mrs Nyandoro
arrived with herhusband and had a meeting with the Brent's. She was
extremely threateningand told them to vacate the house immediately, which
they eventually did.

Loice Mugadzaweta, the person quoted in your article
is not known to me. Ihave only seen and spoken to Mrs Nyandoro and John
Mukrayi.

In the article, Loice Mugadzaweta alleges that there is damage
to damage tofarm equipment. Farm staff have not reported this and if it is
the case thenMugadzaweta and Mukrayi must give details of damage and who
caused it.

CFU Regional Executive Mashonaland West North, Ben Freeth
confirmed thatBrent had last been to his farm three weeks ago.

He
said, " Basil was not listed until last Friday but has had
numerousdifficulties on his farm which is on the Porta Road next to Gowrie
Farmwhere Terry Ford was murdered. Most of Brent's belongings are still in
hishouse and he is currently staying with different people because he has
gotno other home. A Mrs Nyandoro from the Porta Butchery also wants the
farmand put up an illegal roadblock monitoring all traffic on or off the
farm.RRB Number 4847 refers "

Freeth continued, "Last year, due to
the rain, some of his seed maize gotDiplodia and was left in a heap. It is
poisonous for animal or humanconsumption."

The Herald (Harare)May 20,
2002Posted to the web May 20, 2002Herald Reporter

A WHITE
commercial farmer in Norton, irked by the designation of his farmunder the
land redistribution programme, allegedly sprayed poison on morethan 10
tonnes of maize and destroyed substantial farming equipment afterreceiving
an eviction order.According to the new owner of the farm, Mrs Loice
Mugadzaweta, thecommercial farmer, Mr Bazil Hulloville Brent, claimed to
have sprayed poisonon all the maize stockpiled in the granary.

"He
told me that he had deliberately sprayed the maize with a deadly
poisonbecause he was leaving the farm and could not bear the thought of
anyoneeating his harvest," said Mrs Mugadzaweta.She said workers on the
farm were starving while the maize was rotting inthe granary.The Grain
Marketing Board is yet to test the maize for poisoning.The farmer is alleged
to have also destroyed some farming equipment.Mrs Mugadzaweta said before
the commercial farmer left in March this year,he had tried to subdivide the
farm into several plots.Efforts to get a comment from the commercial farmer
have been fruitless.However, the Government has in the past warned
commercial farmers againstvandalising infrastructure on farms that would
have been designated forresettlement.Police recently impounded large
quantities of farming equipment that hadbeen moved to warehouses by farmers
planning to take it out of the country.The Minister of Lands, Agriculture
and Rural Resettlement, Cde Joseph Made,said commercial farmers who
vandalised infrastructure to frustrate the LandReform programme would be
arrested.Last month the minister received reports of commercial farmers who
wereallegedly vandalising irrigation equipment, spraying sugar cane
plantationswith harmful chemicals and infecting cattle with
diseases."These criminal acts are going to be investigated and the culprits
will bebrought to book," said Cde Made.

THE government, reportedly uneasy with the free movement of
refugeesin the country's urban centres, has decided to round up all refugees
notemployed or attending school and confine them to Tongogara camp in
Chipinge.

The move is largely seen as a security precaution by the
governmentbecause some of the refugees are from countries perceived to be
hostile toZimbabwe.

The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) in Zimbabweis expanding Tongogara camp to accommodate the
refugees, should thegovernment go ahead with its plans.

About 800 are staying at Tongogara camp, while others
live in thecountry's urban centres.

A few of those staying in
the urban centres are either employed or areundergoing studies.
Tapiwa Huye, the UNHCR assistant programme officer in Zimbabwe, said20
houses had already been completed at Tongogara camp.

Huye said the
dwellings would accommodate about 40 families.

Another 30 houses
are expected to be completed soon to cater for about60 families, Huye
said.

The water system at the camp has also been upgraded to serve
a largerpopulation. "In the urban centres the cost of living is
high," Huye said. "Some ofthe refugees could end up being destitute or
getting involved in illegalactivities and prostitution for
survival. "Besides, it is government policy that only those refugees
who areattending school or in employment will remain in the urban
centres."

Huye said there were also security concerns in allowing
refugees whowere not doing anything to stay in urban centres because some
could havehidden agendas.

"At the moment, we do not know of any
such cases, but it can happen,"he said. "It is also good for the UNHCR and
the government to know where therefugees are at any given
time."

Isaac Mukaro, the commissioner for refugees in Zimbabwe,
declined tocomment.

In 1999 there were fears that countries
perceived to be hostile toZimbabwe, such as Rwanda and Burundi or the rebel
groups they back in theDRC, could send their agents to masquerade as
refugees so as to gathersecurity and military information about the
country.

Relations between Zimbabwe and Rwanda and Burundi have hit
rock-bottombecause of the war in the DRC, which finds them fighting on
opposite sides.

Zimbabwe has deployed combat troops, heavy
artillery and jet fightersinto the DRC to defend the Kinshasa regime from a
rebel onslaught sponsoredmainly by Rwanda.

A peace initiative
being brokered by South Africa appears to becrumbling amid reports that
Rwanda is amassing troops on the easternfrontier of the DRC.

Three years ago Burundi accused Zimbabwe of training and
arminganti-government Hutu rebels called Forces for the Defence of
Democracy. Thegovernment denied this.

It was sickening in the extreme that Zimbabweans had to
hear about murderous Mugabe's attendence at the UN Congress on children in New
York! A dictator so desperate to hang on to power, that he resorts to brutally
persecuting his own people ....killing, abducting, incarcerating,raping &
torturing them! To ensure that all this is carried out with the minimum of
resistance from the already thoroughly terrified citizens, he throws in a bunch
of draconian "legislation" that totally eliminates what few civil rights there
were!! Add to all this big chief Chihuri, and the stage is set! Mugabe could
never have accomplished his very successful campaign of terror without a
partisan police force......which does not protect the citizens
of Zimbabwe.......INSTEAD it enforces lawlessness & helps to pulverise them.
THE POLICE, UNDER CHIHURI, PARTICIPATE FULLY IN THE SUPPRESSION &
TERRORIZATION OF THE ZIMBABWEAN PEOPLE OF ALL RACES!! Taxes paid by the long
suffering people of this country pay the salaries of these bullies!

These "police" who look the other way whilst people are
brutalised, tortured or even burned alive. These same "police" stand by and
allow homes to be torched, property to be vandalised & looted....& in
many cases have been reported to even orchestrate these events!! These "police"
who can't uphold the law that they took an oath to serve, because all these
events are POLITICAL , are the VERY police who arrest farmers who dare protect
themselves & their property( a basic human right!!) because the
"police"refuse to carry out their duty! Selective justice according to chihuri
and his master mugabe.

And Chihuri will continue to dance to his master's voice,
because he is WELL rewarded. How many farms has he "acquired" now? Farms STOLEN
from farmers who bought & paid for their properties after they were assured
of a future in this country by mugabe in 1980.

The man is nothing but a thug, a conman,and a criminal. In
every society in the world, theft is the taking of someone else's possessions
without their consent, or against their will. No presidential decrees, no
illegal "laws" can alter that THEFT IS THEFT, and those who do it are thieves!
Mugabe, ZANU PF, the army, and the "police" are all in this looting spree
together. Zimbabwe has become a plunderers' paradise.....particularly sickening
because of the violence, terror & death involved.

And now Chihuri, chief thug of a thug "police force" is
attending an Interpol function in Lyon????WHAT is the world coming to? WHY
hasn't he been removed from his position as vice-president of the organisation
& made an example of? Why hasn't he been exposed for the crimes perpetrated
against his own people? Why has Interpol not shown it's respect for human
rights, by forbidding his participation & publishing a strongly worded
statement to uphold one of its core values?

WHEN REASON SLEEPS IT PRODUCES MONSTERS! SAVE US FROM
HYPOCRITS AND MADMEN!

C.x.x.(sender's name omited for safety reasons)

The e-mail address for Interpol public relations is cp@interpol.int
Protest the Chief Thug's visit to France

Chief Thug, Augustine Chihuri
has been visiting Lyon, France attending anInterpol meeting. Augustine
Chihuri is a key member of Robert Mugabe's innercircle. As commissioner of
police he has been implicated in widespread humanrights abuses. Interpol has
refused to comment on the affair - Mr Chihuri isstill a vice-president of
the organisation which stresses respect for humanrights as one of its core
values.

So let Interpol know what you think of their hypocrisy: their
publicrelations department email address is: cp@interpol.int

I SHALL give some juicy stuff
about Jonathan! Do not be too fast and thinkthat I am about to divulge some
top secret on Jonathan! I can see some ofyour faces pitying my
bravado.

From the side of law, I can sense some tails in a cop shop
wagging inanticipation of a millennium arrest.

Talking about the shop
stewards at the cop shop, I read that they are veryefficient in apprehending
those who transgress the mighty law on informationand privacy. It is not a
surprise that someone might already be sensing anarrestable issue
here.

All the same, I shall not be deterred by the zeal and efficiency of
the guysat the cop shop. I will stand by my promise and tell you about
Jonathan.

All I shall do is give you some interesting facts about
Jonathan withoutcausing any hatred, ridicule and injury towards
him.

I will not do what the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Actforbids me to do as a law-abiding citizen. I will not dig deep
into Jonathan's unknown and safe past. All I will do is tell you what Jonah
did.

Jonathan ate honey! Many of you will wonder why Jonathan's
gastronomicpreferences are of interest to hungry Zimbabweans. Well, the main
reason isthat Jonathan broke the King's promulgation.

The King had
made a law, something akin to our Temporary PresidentialPowers, whereupon
the people of the land had been forbidden to eat anythinguntil sunset. This
was a temporary measure, but still Jonathan broke it.

This information is
indisputable. I would refer all those who doubt itsveracity to the most
sincere book on earth. I can also swear upon the livingGod that this
happened. Jonathan ate honey!

Of course Jonathan had not heard that the
King had forbidden his people fromeating anything on that day. Maybe it
boils down to the famous issue onignorance with regard to the
law.

The law states that ignorance is no defence. The law is indeed an
ass forboth fools and sages to ride!

Here is how Jonathan broke the
temporary measure put by the King. I shallask to borrow from Samuel 1,
verses 24 to 27.

24: "Now the men of Israel were in distress that day
because Saul had bannedthe people under an oath, saying, 'Cursed be any man
who eats food beforeevening comes, before I have avenged myself on my
enemies!' So, none of thetroops tasted food."

25: "The entire army
entered the woods and there was honey on the ground."26: "When they went
into the wood, they saw the honey oozing out, yet no oneput his hand to his
mouth because they feared the oath."

27: "But Jonathan had not heard that
his father had bound the people withthe oath, so he reached for the end of
the staff that was in hand and dippedit into the honeycomb. He raised his
hand to his mouth, and his eyesbrightened!"

I am sure those of you
who doubt this will lend their doubts to the HolyBook and get the proof by
themselves in black and white.

This is not a quote from Salman Rushdie's
Satanic Verses, but a direct quotefrom the Holy Bible. I am also positive
that the Bible is one book that ourcountry and Constitution solemnly
acknowledges as indisputable.

What the Bible says cannot be disputed by
anyone! Countrymen, this is whatJonathan did during the long and perilous
struggle in the land of milk andhoney!

He broke Saul's temporary
order. Saul was the King of Israel and was alsothe dear father of Jonathan.
I may not explain further what happened toJonathan after he had been exposed
as the only one who had eaten on thatday.

I do not know how the Koran
would put it, but the Holy Bible explains thatJonathan was spared the
curse!

Many of you would wonder why this article now! The reason is
simple. As apatriot, I could not write about the opposition donating
blankets to thesuffering folks of Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe.

That would
be setting myself a tall order to prove. I could not write aboutTony Blair
digging pit latrines in Zimbabwe, for that would be demeaning theeminence of
a foreign premier.

I could not write about the wells of milk and honey
drying up, for I wouldbe putting myself liable for prosecution for causing
alarm and despondency.

So I had to write about Jonathan eating honey. I
did not have to write aboutsomething I had no proof of.

I did not
have to consult a lawyer for advice on the immunity of my articlewith regard
to the people's law on Access to Information and the Protectionof Privacy.
The access to information in the Bible is unrestrained.

It is free and
very quotable. The Kings referred to in the Bible had noprivacy to protect.
God was always watching over them.

This, my beloved countrymen, is a
straightforward article about somebiblical fellow named Jonathan.

He
mistakenly ate some honey when he was supposed to be fasting with therest of
the men. He had not heard of the King's proclamation, so he ate
thehoney!

Jonathan ate the honey in the hope that it was going to
replenish all hisenergy that had been lost in the battle with the Amalekites
and Philistines.He did not eat the honey out of contempt for the King or out
of greed.

Talking of honey, how many of you countrymen remember the sweet
taste ofhoney? This fasting called by King Saul seems to last forever! I
thoughtthat Saul had called for only a single day of fasting!

I
thought by now we should be free to eat. It seems the binding oath is nowa
killing oath! Never mind the honey, it is a luxury I suppose!

Let us then
speak of milk. Where is the milk? I would be wrong to suggestthat Jonathan
sipped all the milk too. The Bible says he ate the honey.

I am sure if we
then had to conduct a thorough search, we would discoveroodles and oodles of
milk stashed somewhere in a foreign country for our
ownsafety.

Meanwhile, let us lift our empty glasses and praise those
who eat the honeyand drink the milk for us in a solemn toast. This is what
Jonathan did!

THE United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)'s
US$60 million (aboutZ$3,3 billion) appeal to fund emergency food aid
operations in Zimbabwe gota boost last week when Germany and Finland made
available food grants worthabout US$1,2 million (about Z$66
million).

The German and Finnish food grants follow the 6,5 million
euro (aboutZ$325 million) food aid donation for Zimbabwe made by the
European Union(EU), two weeks ago.

WFP Zimbabwe representative,
Kevin Farrell said in an interview thatGermany and Finland had made their
contributions to the emergency food aidprogramme, releasing US$900 000
(Z$49,5 million) and US$300 000 (Z$16,5million) respectively.

Apart from Germany and Finland, the United States of America,
Britain,Australia, Japan, Switzerland, South Africa and the EU have so far
respondedto the appeal made for Zimbabwe last year by the WFP.

Farrell said: "The programme has so far received half of the US$60million
which we need to feed our initial target population of 558 000people in
Zimbabwe.

"To date, we have managed to purchase and transport about
11 500tonnes of food items into the country and half of that has been
distributedto people in most of the 19 districts threatened by serious food
shortages."

Zimbabwe is facing severe food shortages following poor
agricultureseasons last year and this year while a reduction in plantings in
thecommercial farming sector, caused by land invasions, has affected
productionof food crops.

The WFP began distributing food in the
country in February this yearand the current emergency programme is expected
to run until November thisyear.

Farrell said: "We have been
reasonably satisfied with the pace of thepledges made by donors. The
responses have been commendable and it is anindication that the food
situation in Zimbabwe is understood by thegovernments that have made
pledges."

Although he said the WFP appreciated the donations,
Farrell said thefood need was greater.

The German and Finnish
food contributions come at a time when theGerman government had vowed last
year it would not resume its aid toZimbabwe, suspended in 1999 because of
the rampant lawlessness on commercialfarms.

In September last
year, head of the German mission to Zimbabwe, WernerKoehler, said the
country was unlikely to resume aid to Zimbabwe because ofthe looting on
commercial farms and the upsurge in the pre-electionviolence.

Zimbabwe last received aid from Germany in the 1998-1999 period. Itwas worth
about Z$815 million.

The German government has also been directly
affected by the country'sland reform through its part ownership of Border
Timbers Limited, thecountry's largest timber producer.

Border
Timbers properties, which are protected by the Germany-ZimbabweInvestment
Protection Agreement, are listed for compulsory acquisition bythe Zimbabwe
government.

The Germany-Zimbabwe agreement was signed in 1995 to
protect Germaninvestments in Zimbabwe. Investors in Germany own 48 percent
of BorderTimbers.

Zimbabwe's relationship with the EU is also
strained because of theexpulsion from Harare of the Swedish head of the EU
election mission toZimbabwe, Pierre Schori, prior to the March 9-11 March
presidentialelection.

Officials in the food industry have said
the slow response to the aidappeal in Zimbabwe was a reflection of
Zimbabwe's international isolationover its poor human rights record, the
farm seizures and President Mugabe'scontentious victory in the 9-11 March
presidential election.

Zimbabwe's relations with the US, Britain,
Australia and Switzerlandalso soured because of Zimbabwe's alleged violation
of human rights.

IN what could signal a
hard-line stance towards the opposition MDC,police yesterday barred the
party's rally at Trojan Nickel Mine in Bindura,despite an earlier
approval.

The refusal comes after Thursday's announcement by the
MDC that itwould not accept fresh demands by Zanu PF at the inter-party
talks. Therewere immediate threats from Zanu PF, with President Mugabe
warning theywould not "tolerate any more nonsense and rubbish about an
uprising".

Yesterday, thousands of MDC supporters who had waited in
vain to beaddressed by their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, at Trojan Stadium,
were toldof the cancellation by Tapera Macheka, the MDC's chairman for
MashonalandCentral province.

Under the draconian Public Order
and Security Act (POSA), the policehave to be notified of any political
gathering in advance.

But Macheka said the police were notified on
8 May of the MDC'sintention to hold the meeting. The police responded the
next day but did notindicate whether or not the MDC could go ahead with the
rally.

When the MDC sought clarification they were told that the
rally wouldnot go ahead, resulting in an appeal to John Nkomo, the Minister
of HomeAffairs, last week. Nkomo reportedly gave a verbal nod for the MDC to
holdthe rally.

"But this morning, when we asked the police
whether the minister'sapproval had been put on paper, we were told another
story," Macheka said.

"The minister said we could go ahead with the
rally on condition wedid not bring in our supporters from other
constituencies, a position weagreed to."

Contacted for comment,
Nkomo said he was at a funeral and could not,therefore, speak to The Daily
News.

Tsvangirai yesterday expressed disappointment in the
selectiveapplication of POSA by the police. He said the MDC was going to
take legalaction against the police, as well as challenge the
constitutionality ofPOSA from which the police were drawing their
discretionary powers.

Tsvangirai said his party was particularly
disappointed by thelast-minute cancellation of the Bindura rally, especially
as the police hadapproved it earlier.

Business Day
(Johannesburg)May 20, 2002Posted to the web May 20, 2002Mark
SmitJohannesburg

KENYA and Zimbabwe are still being billed as venues
for the Cricket WorldCup next year.But organisers revealed at the
weekend that contingency arrangements are inplace, should the two countries
prove to be unsuitable.

Problems with getting Kenya's facilities up to
standard at the Gymkhanaground in Nairobi, and the political situation in
Zimbabwe, have beenapparent for some time. The exclusion of either country,
for logistical orpolitical reasons, would be a major blow to the Cricket
World Cup 2003organising committee, which has made much of this premier
event in worldcricket being an African World Cup rather than simply an SA
event.Cup spokesman Rodney Hartman said yesterday there were contingency
plans tohold Zimbabwe's six games, and those in Kenya, at local SA venues,
shouldthe need arise. "But this is premature at this stage. Ali (Bacher,
theCricket World Cup 2003 executive director) was quite upbeat yesterday
aboutplans going ahead as envisaged and he did not see problems with
eithercountry's plans."Hartman said the International Cricket Council
had let it be known they werequite happy that telecommunications, a critical
issue for Kenya afterproblems at the last ICC knockout tournament, would be
sorted out.But he could not reveal who was footing the $1m bill for making
sure mediacovering games there would get their stories through to the
outside world:"The ICC are pretty stern taskmasters and their last comment,
after visitingKenya, was that they were happy systems would be adequate once
thetournament started."The issue of Zimbabwe is not quite as clear. The
country is scheduled tohold six games at two venues Bulawayo and Harare.
"Both centres are wellinto the upgrading of their facilities and at this
point we are optimisticthe games at each venue will go ahead as planned,"
said Hartman. "But it hasto be pointed out that World Cup organisers have no
control over politicalevents or their consequences."He said the venues
would have to be finalised by July 15 when tickets go onsale to the public.
The deadline for season ticket-holders and otherpreferential booking bodies
to take up their options is Wednesday.

Chief Thug, Augustine Chihuri
has been visiting Lyon, France attending anInterpol meeting. Augustine
Chihuri is a key member of Robert Mugabe's innercircle. As commissioner of
police he has been implicated in widespread humanrights abuses. Interpol has
refused to comment on the affair - Mr Chihuri isstill a vice-president of
the organisation which stresses respect for humanrights as one of its core
values.

So let Interpol know what you think of their hypocrisy: their
publicrelations department email address is: cp@interpol.int

"Until
we are all gone, I will still be here!" Colin Cloete, presidentof the
Commercial Farmers' Union on SW Radio on the 26 April 2002.

FOR
those of us who live in countries in crisis, the question ofemigration is a
painful one. We often have to say goodbye to friends andfamilies that we
know and watch as families are broken up and children moveaway and start new
lives in distant places.

The agony deepens when grandchildren come
along and are denied theprivilege of growing up in the presence of
grandparents. But the impact ofemigration does not end there. Its tentacles
stretch far inside the workingof the countries affected by the
phenomenon.

We have lost a quarter of our total population to
emigration in thepast five years. Prior to that, almost two-thirds of the
white populationhad emigrated and the process continues; it's a never-ending
drain on thecountries from which the emigrants originate - painful,
debilitating andimpoverishing.

Almost all emigrants are
economically active people. They are youngenough to pack up and move or they
have skills that other countries want.They either cross borders illegally,
as most emigrants do when moving toother countries, or they leave on
"holiday" and never come back. A minoritydo it the "right way" and apply for
permission to settle in the new countryof their choice and go through the
long and arduous task of medicalexaminations and long interviews in foreign
embassies.

Whichever way they go, they take with them the education
and otherskills and experience that they have gained in the country of their
birth.In the case of those leaving Zimbabwe, these skills are often of
world-classstandard and the migrants are valued and easily slip into the
social andeconomic life of the countries to which they go. They are often
hard-workingand make a very valuable contribution to their new host
countries. We lose90 percent of the trained doctors we produce each year,
some 50 percent ofour trained and experienced nursing staff have emigrated
and every day wesee advertisements for such personnel in our papers. What
about teachers,accountants, lawyers, engineers and those with a myriad of
other skills?

It costs us about Z$500 000 a year to train a
university student, thevalue of a chartered accountant after years of
training and experience in ahighly competitive environment must run to
millions of dollars. Relevantexperience in any field is difficult to value,
but must also run to millionsa person in many cases.

When they
go they take with them all of that and it comes to their newhome country
with no strings attached. It's a pure grant in financial termsfrom the
country of origin to the country of choice. The value of suchhidden flows of
resources must be enormous it must far exceed the combinedvalue of aid into
the countries affected.

Then there is the effect of these losses of
human resources on thesociological and cultural situation in the affected
countries.

We lose not only the skills and our investment in these
people, butalso their social skills. Our artists, our musicians, our actors
and dancersdrift to those countries that can offer them recognition and
exposure, thosecountries where the orchestras will give their talents a home
andexpression.

Sometimes, just to emphasise what we are
missing, a foreign embassywill bring a group into the country to tour and
bring some "culture" backinto the country. We watch whilst a Zimbabwean
coaches the English cricketside or becomes the hero of the rugby fraternity
in Bloemfontein.

Then there is the affect on the political
situation in the originatingcountry. The two million young Zimbabwean adults
that now live in thesquatter camps of South Africa are mostly well educated
and urban in origin.These are the potential democrats of the
future.

In a squatter camp outside Johannesburg they cannot
influence eventsat home except by sending money (which they do in
significant quantities)and, in a limited way, by writing letters and
periodic visits which becomeless and less frequent as they gradually find
their feet in their new home.But on the day that matters they cannot vote or
attend the rallies or speakinto the situation.

The loss of the
self-employed and skilled affects the politicalsituation in other important
ways. They are the main source of funding forthe emerging political parties.
They are also generally independent-mindedpeople who will stand up to
tyranny.

They buy the newspapers; they communicate into society
with ideas andissues of principle. Where would we be without Kerry Kay
talking aboutHIV/Aids, Adrian de Bourbon in the legal field, Geoffrey
Nyarota at TheDaily News or Trevor Ncube at the Independent Media
Group?

President Mugabe is quite right to attack the commercial
farmers; theyare a real threat to his control over the country. They are
exactly what adictator fears most: independent business people with
resources and ideasand, on top of that, citizens who have every right to be
critical and tovote against his kind when the time comes.

Every
tyrant hates this type of person, which is why Joseph Stalinkilled the
independent peasant farmers in Russia; that is why Adolf Hitlertargeted the
Jewish businessmen and women of Germany. They fear theindependence of the
small businessperson and the free intellectual.

Which is why we
must answer the question as to why Colin Cloete andpeople like myself are
still living in Zimbabwe and remain fully committedto working here to try
and effect change for the benefit of all our people.It's partly because we
believe strongly that we can only lift up the poorcountries of the world by
bringing our skills to bear on their problems in asacrificial
way.

You cannot do that by working in an office in Washington or
London, nomatter what you may think you are achieving in your own way.
Lawrence Levyis a neurosurgeon working in Harare; he is a living legend as a
professionaland as a human being. World-renowned as a surgeon, he chooses to
work in thelocal State hospitals and to teach at the University of Zimbabwe.
He couldwork and live anywhere he chooses, but he chooses to live here,
amongst thepoorest people on earth. When a young African National Congress
soldier wasshot in Botswana and was completely paralysed, it was Levy who
saw him inHarare and tended to his needs.

Levy serves the
people of central Africa and has done so for years,selflessly and with great
skill.

I am here because of the sacrifices that have been made to
bringmyself, my family and my country through to the place where we are
today.

There are hundreds of other examples of people who have
given theirlives up for principle in the Third World; people on whom any
hope ofprogress is dependent in every way. If we in our small way can make
adifference, why not take the risk?

Risk, after all, is the
foundation stone of all progress in everyfield of human
endeavour.

A SHARP decline in earnings from the services sector,
whose maincomponents are transport, tourism, hotels and restaurants, has
worsened thecountry's foreign currency situation, says the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe(RBZ).

In its latest Weekly Economic Highlights, dated
26 April 2002, the RBZsaid that a major drop in tourist arrivals and hotel
occupancies since 2000adversely affected travel business.

The
RBZ said: "Low activity in the tourism sector, particularly fromthe year
2000, has impacted negatively on travel receipts. Tourist arrivalsdropped
significantly and hotel occupancies are still low.

Reflecting this,
inflows from holiday and business travel declinedfrom US$239,2 million (Z$13
billion) in 1996 to US$81,4 million (Z$4,5billion) in 2001.

The
RBZ said that a sharp decline in merchandise export performanceduring the
past four years has also negatively impacted foreign exchangereceipts from
related services.

The RBZ said: "Against this background, the country's
foreign exchangesituation has worsened, further constraining local
industry's capacity toprocure essential raw materials and other inputs. The
land-locked nature ofZimbabwe has made it reliant on neighbouring countries
for transportation,shipment and port services, putting the country at a
comparativedisadvantage."

Despite these recent setbacks, the
RBZ said that the services sectorsretained the potential to generate foreign
exchange and to contributesignificantly to sustainable economic development,
aided by the country'sabundant natural resources, good transport and
communication links and arelatively diversified banking and insurance
sector.

The RBZ said that tourism retained the capacity to boost
foreignexchange earnings, aided by the 15 percent concessional export
financefacility, and to revive downstream industries.

The
sectors of agriculture, mining and manufacturing are also expectedto benefit
from export incentives there by increasing the foreign exchangeearnings
capacity of the services sector.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (Human Rights Forum) claims
its membersare under a mounting threat from the authorities, which perceive
them asanti-government.Human Rights Forum co-coordinator Tor-Hugne Olsen
told IRIN that "we fear atthe moment that while the main targets in the past
have been members oralleged/perceived supporters of [opposition Movement for
Democratic Change]MDC [now the targets] are other parts of civil
society".He said: "The NGO that seems to be most under attack at the moment
is AmaniTrust." The trust, which focuses on highlighting incidents of
torture, hadbeen attacked in government-controlled media and its offices
were recentlyvisited by police.Olsen said: "Strong rumours about
legislation in preparation, designed tohamper activities of NGOs, are of
special concern to the Human Rights Forumat the moment."On Thursday last
week, the same day the European Parliament adopted aresolution strengthening
their position on Zimbabwe and smart sanctionsagainst President Robert
Mugabe and his associates, a programme officer forTransparency International
was called in for questioning by police inBulawayo under the Public Order
and Security Act (POSA).Transparency International's Andrew Nangogo said:
"The programme officer wasnot arrested, he was just called in by the police
to give them informationon a meeting we had held. [The police] wanted
information regardingstatements that were made at that meeting. He still has
to give his reportto them. But the remarks that were made [at the meeting],
as far as we areconcerned, were not in violation of the Public Order and
Security Act."The Amani Trust's Tony Reeler told IRIN: "It's a multiple
level problem. Atthe top level there have been repeated threats from the
state, that NGOs arepolitically undesirable. [State controlled] press
recently carried a storyin which a minister made fairly threatening
statements that NGOs wereanti-government etc."The Amani Trust had
received "some fairly unwelcome attention in the lasttwo weeks from the
Police Internal Security Unit".Reeler said: "We have not been able to get
any explanation from them as towhy. They have been requesting that members
of my staff go to them formeetings, they've paid a visit to our offices in
search of one of themembers of our staff who was away on leave. The next day
we got a requestfor three members of staff to visit the police at their
offices, again withno cause, and a few staff have been visited by these
people at their homes.Fortunately they were not there."None of the
trust's staff have yet met with police. "We are attempting toget an
explanation from police management to find out what the problem is.The
political statements made by ministers regarding NGOs are threatening,we've
heard there's pending legislation to deal with NGOs. Given what'shappened to
the journalists it may be an indication of how they will moveagainst human
rights organisations."Political opponents and journalists have run afoul of
the POSA and Access toInformation and Privacy Act. Eleven journalists have
been arrested in thepast month.The European Parliament meanwhile has
singled out South African PresidentThabo Mbeki's role in dealing with
Zimbabwe and the consequences for the NewProgramme for African Development
(NEPAD)in a resolution adopted last week.It stated: "The European Parliament
calls on President Mbeki to showwholehearted and consistent support for the
principles of democracy, humanrights and the rule of law, and accordingly to
demonstrate the quality ofleadership that befits the powerful and crucial
regional position of SouthAfrica."The parliamentarians also called "on
African leaders, particularly in theSADC region, not to resume normal
diplomatic relations with the Mugaberegime and thereby jeopardise ... NEPAD
and the prospects for the launch ofan 'African renaissance' by the G8 summit
in Canada this July".In intensifying actions against Mugabe, the parliament
resolved that theEuropean Union (EU) member states and the council take
measures to extendthe EU's proscribed list of banned Mugabe associates to
include other keyfigures.These included: "The vice-presidents, all
ministers, senior military, policeand secret service commanders and leading
businessmen who have helped tobankroll ZANU-PF or benefited from its corrupt
activities, and who play arole in sustaining the regime and its campaign of
violence, and also includetheir respective spouses and children, as they
also spend illegally acquiredmoney abroad."The parliament also called
for the publication of details pertaining toassets already identified and
frozen as a result of the policy of targetedsanctions and the examination of
Zimbabwe's debt situation and drawingrights in international financial
institutions.

JOHANNESBURG, 20
May (IRIN) - All of Zimbabwe's rain-fed crops have failed and the country only
has a quarter of the food it will need for the next 12 months.

"I have
never seen the country so dry and it is supposed to be end of the rainy season.
I can't imagine what it will look like after the traditional dry season," UN
Development Programme (UNDP) resident co-ordinator for Zimbabwe Victor Angelo
told IRIN.

Angelo had just returned from chairing a weekend meeting of
regional UNDP country coordinators where the grim regional food security
predictions of the last few months appear to be coming true.

The latest
harvest figures show that Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Lesotho are, as feared,
going to be the worst off. Swaziland also faces serious food shortages and
Botswana and Namibia, though battling, have resources to cope. Last week a
government source said that northern Namibia's subsistence farmers could only
expect one-third of their usual crops.

Zimbabwe tops the list with the
second year in a row of poor harvests in the south and centre of the country.
The only safe crop was commercially-farmed tobacco. Besides the drought and poor
rainfall, commercial food production in Zimbabwe has also been disrupted by a
land restitution programme.

"The northern provinces are better off but
they produced barely enough for household subsistence and very little of this
will reach the market. Zimbabwe's food stocks are exhausted so there is no
stock. At least 1.5 million mt needs to be imported," Angelo said.

Malawi
only has a 65 to 75 percent crop and will need to import at least 3.5 million
mt. Last week field workers said that though the harvest had eased shortages
slightly, at least three million people are still in need of food
aid.

"South Africa, who would traditionally supply the region, only has a
little to spare over their needs and have already committed their surpluses.
There is not much left to buy so we have to get the private sector involved, and
other humanitarian assistance," Angelo said.

The shortfalls would have
to be imported from elsewhere like North and South America but some countries
don't have the foreign currency to import, Angelo said.

His concerns are
echoed in a recent Southern African Development Community (SADC) Food Security
Network report that warned that the poor regional reserves and corresponding
price increases will make it even harder to access extra food.

Angelo
said: "Lesotho is also becoming very bad although it is completely out of the
news." Lesotho has already declared a famine, while Zimbabwe and Malawi have
declared disasters.

"It is a very serious crisis. We see the writing on
the wall but that writing seems to be invisible. The key players don't seem to
be paying attention," Angelo said. "They seem to be focused on Afghanistan,
Angola, the Middle East. We need to create awareness of the
situation."

Angelo said that to survive many people were eating wild
fruit and berries and killing their livestock, confirming previous fears that
most people had exhausted all their coping mechanisms.

The resident
coordinators did find though that not all countries in Southern Africa are
facing empty larders.

"Botswana and Namibia have problems but they have
resources. Botswana is not a concern. It is a well-managed economy and can
generate foreign currency to import when it needs to. However, they must be
aware that the ports in the sub region will be under severe stress because of
the imports for other countries and they must plan ahead," a statement released
at the end of the resident coordinators meeting said.

The north of
Mozambique is "fine" but areas in the centre and south are under stress, Angelo
said. The stress in the south occurs frequently and they have traditional food
assistance to count on.

"It is because these types of crises are
predictable that they are therefore perfectly preventable," Angelo said in the
statement.

The coordinators plan to give the points raised at the meeting
to a multi-agency team currently finalising a regional food security assessment
due for release in June.
UK Warns of BSE Risk From Imported Beef

Business Day
(Johannesburg)May 20, 2002Posted to the web May 20, 2002Charlotte
MathewsJohannesburg

Polish, Zimbabwean, SA cattle named

The
Food Standards Agency of the UK warned the British public last week thatmeat
from Polish, Zimbabwean and SA cattle older than 30 months may pose
a"slightly higher BSE risk" than other imported beef sold legally.BSE
refers to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which only affects cattle.BSE
has been linked to a rare fatal form of dementia, variantCreutzfeldt-Jakob
(vCJD) disease, in humans who have eaten beef infectedwith BSE.By March
2001, 95 cases of vCJD had been discovered in the UK, according tothe Food
Standards Agency.It said that, although the amount of beef imported from
Poland, Zimbabwe andSA was low and risk controls applied, "major retailers
are already acting toprotect the public" after discussions with the agency.
It said the EuropeanCommission had already classified Poland as likely to
present a BSE risk.But no risk assessments had been carried out in SA or
Zimbabwe.The UK has not imported beef from Zimbabwe since August 2001
because offoot-and-mouth restrictions but the latest UK trade statistics for
2001indicated that 29 tons of beef were imported to the UK from
SA.According to the SA Meat Industry Company (Samic) website, SA was one
ofBritain's biggest beef export markets until the BSE ban. BSE and
subsequentproblems like foot-and-mouth disease have hit British farmers hard
and therehas been a strong drive in the UK to encourage British consumers to
buy fromtheir local producers.The Food Standards Agency said it was
asking the European Commission toexpedite its risk assessments for Zimbabwe
and SA. The European Union (EU)has three risk categories, ranging from
category one where it is highlyunlikely there is a BSE risk, to category
four where BSE risk is confirmedat a high level.Samic manager of food
standards and export market development Dr GerritBruwer said on Friday that
SA did not export to the EU countries because oftheir high tariffs and
duties but it was good to be seen to be approved bythe EU for the purpose of
exporting to other markets.SA's Directorate of Veterinary Services forwarded
a full report to the EU inJanuary. SA was positive it would be accepted as a
beef importer to the EU,he said.